Biodiversity – The Green Tau

Counting on … day 110

17th July 2025

Over the centuries the British landscape has changed and changed again as farming practices have changed. In recent decades one of the big changes has been the removal of hedgerows to create ever larger fields and the use of ever larger (and heavier) farm vehicles. The Woodlands Trust reports that ‘118,000 miles of hedgerows have disappeared since 1950.’ (1) The hedge was seen as a waste of space. Yet that linear strip of land can serve as a valuable green corridor for wild life and a unique ecosystem supporting a rich biodiversity of plants, animals, birds and insects. Thankfully about 500, 000 miles of hedgerow remain in place but that resource still needs care and protection.

Farm land shouldn’t be seen as solely a place to grow food but as land that provides clean air, fertile soils, pollinators, relief for mental wellbeing, water stewardship, and life-giving biodiversity. Farming needs to include both the production of food and the maintenance of healthy ecosystems, with space for nature to thrive.

Hedgerows are not a waste of space; rather their absence is a waste of ecological benefit.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/hedgerows/

More information

https://www.soilassociation.org/take-action/protect-the-environment/why-are-hedgerows-so-important/

Plant and manage hedgerows

https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/why-are-hedgerows-important

Counting on … day 110

16th July 2025

Might one think that a ditch is just a wasted bit of land that collects water as and when it rains? Or might it, like the verge, be a potential green corridor benefitting wild life? Here is an example from Bedfordshire where a ditch was turned “into a complex wetland habitat.” (1) Or in southwest London where the work of previous generation, who canalised a local stream with the consequence that rainwater quickly flowed through causing downstream flooding, was overturned to create a vibrant biodiverse rich habitat. (2)

Rewilding ditches, streams and ponds not only improve biodiversity but help with flood prevention. (3)

(3) https://assets.rewildingbritain.org.uk/documents/Rewilding_FloodReport_AUG2016_FINAL.pdf

Counting on … day 109

15th July 2025

The strip of land that separates road from hedge/ fence/ wall of other boundary might be termed waste land – but that waste land has the capacity to be a thriving green corridor. Warwickshire County Council has developed a successful strategy for planting verges with wild flowers. (1) In York the banks abutting the city walls have also been successfully planted with wild flowers -but not without some opposition! (2)

Green corridors are important allowing plants, insects, and other creatures to migrate, forage and breed across a wider territory that improves the viability of the different species. Plant Life reports “Our road verges and green spaces have the potential to act as a sanctuary for wildflowers and a network of connective corridors across Great Britain’s 400,000 km of public road verges and almost 85,000 hectares of public green spaces.” (3)

Counting on … day 108

14th July 2025

The UK has committed to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (30by30), to support the global 30by30 target agreed at the UN Biodiversity Summit (COP15) in 2022. (1) Currently just over 14% of land in England meets this target so achieving this goal will require significant change and input from landowners and government.

Gardens can make a small contribution. Rewilding part of a garden is not to waste one’s garden but to create a space where wildlife – be that insects, beetles, birds etc or wild plants (often discarded for being weeds) can thrive. Collectively wild spaces in gardens can provide green corridors for wild life.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criteria-for-30by30-on-land-in-england/30by30-on-land-in-england-confirmed-criteria-and-next-steps

Further information

https://greentau.org/2022/04/04/the-green-tau-issue-39/ (Since writing this blog, the green proportion of Greater London is now almost 50%)

31 Days Wild: 28th May 2025

Walking along a narrow and little used lane, I looked at the plants growing along the verge – a variety of grasses, buttercups and the occasional late dandelion, convululus (hedge and field varieties), dock plants, cow-parsley and hogweed – all of which I’m sure are beneficial for wildlife. But what I can’t judge is whether this diversity of wild plants is good or not so good – it’s hard to judge what’s not there!

However I am encouraged by the following observation made by the Natural History Museum: “Road verges cover an enormous area in the UK – they span about 500,000 kilometres, equivalent to driving more than 12 times around the Earth! Their total area is thought to be slightly larger than the Lake District National Park. Museum botanist Fred Rumsey says, ‘The sheer scale of the road verge habitat in the UK is pretty mind-boggling. In terms of providing habitat for our threatened wildlife, this huge network of linear strips is increasingly important.’” (1)

Warwickshire Council has a scheme for improving biodiversity by focusing on encouraging wildlife friendly verges – https://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20855/biodiversity/2016/wildflower_verge_trial

(1) https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/why-road-verges-are-important-wildlife-habitats.html

Counting on … day 200

25th October 2024

There are a multitude of other petitions out there calling for the restoration of nature as more and more people realise the desperately depleted state of biodiversity in both the UK and world-wide.

Last month WWF handed in a petition to all the major political parties with 57,685 signatures to prove that the public want real action from the new government, and all political leaders, to stop the destruction of nature. (1)

Here are a selection of similar live petitions –

Wild Card has a petition calling on the Church Commissioners to rewild 30% of the estates they control – currently this petition stands at over 100,000 signatures

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/help-save-nature-by-rewilding-the-church-s-massive-landholdings

The RSPB is calling on the government to provide better funding for nature friendly farming

https://action.rspb.org.uk/page/156168/petition/1?locale=en-GB

And Rewilding Britain is calling for the government to rewild 30% of British land and waters by 2030

https://act.rewildingbritain.org.uk/

https://www.wwf.org.uk/success-stories/stop-destruction-nature-petition

Lament for the loss of biodiversity

19th October 2024

My eyes grow dim with weeping. Each day I beg your help; O Lord, I reach my pleading hands to you for mercy. Soon it will be too late! Psalm 89:9, 10a

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Luke 18: 9-14 (The Message) He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’ “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

Response:-

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Bluebells that cannot keep pace with climate change,

Ash, elm and chestnut trees felled by disease,

Frogspawn that succumbs to unseasonal cold,

Butterflies deceived by unseasonal warmth/ rain*

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Wetlands that are no longer wet,

Curlews that have nowhere to feed,

Streams overwhelmed by fertilisers,

Rivers polluted by sewage.

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Glaciers receding up mountains,

Alpine plants pushed over the edge,

Mountain hares with nowhere to go,

Moorlands and tundra burnt to a cinder.

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Oceans with no whales,

Savannahs with no elephants

Coral reefs with no coral,

Icecaps with no ice.

Merciful God,

Forgive us our greed and our complacency,

Our folly and selfishness.

Forgive us when we have failed to see our errors,

have chosen to overlook our faults.

Forgive us when we have not listened to the facts,

preferring to believe our own stories.

Forgive us when we have ignored the plight of others,

caring only for number one.

Restore in us a right mind and a right spirit.

Strengthen our hands and our hearts to care for your world.

Embolden our will to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Free up our grasp on wealth and resources

that all may benefit from your bounty.

Release us from our pride and self assurance

that we can truly worship you,

our creator, redeemer and sustainer.

Amen.

The grace

Each year has different extremes of weather

Counting on … day 195

18th October 2024

Scientific concern about the adverse affects of climate change in the Earth capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, extends to the land as well as the oceans.

“In 2023, the hottest year ever recorded, preliminary findings by an international team of researchers show the amount of carbon absorbed by land has temporarily collapsed. The final result was that forest, plants and soil – as a net category – absorbed almost no carbon…

“A paper published in July found that while the total amount of carbon absorbed by forests between 1990 and 2019 was steady, it varied substantially by region. The boreal forests – home to about a third of all carbon found on land, which stretch across Russia, Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska – have seen a sharp fall in the amount of carbon they absorb, down more than a third due to climate crisis-related beetle outbreaks, fire and clearing for timber.

“Combined with the declining resilience of the Amazon and drought conditions in parts of the tropics, the hot conditions in the northern forests helped drive the collapse of the land sink in 2023 – causing a spike in the rate of atmospheric carbon.”

This shortfall or decline in the carbon absorbing capacity of the natural world is a serious concern when we are relying on that capacity to achieve a net zero target. Indeed if this persists, we will have to reduce our human enduced carbon emissions faster and at a greater rate.

Counting on … day 192

15th October 2024

Rewilding the sea – seawilding – is as important as rewilding the land. Rewilding Britain explains why. “Britain’s seas used to be home to the biggest creatures on the planet: blue, humpback, fin, sperm, bottlenose and sei whales. Our rich, soupy waters helped fuel a thriving, diverse ecosystem, attracting huge numbers of small fish, and in turn massive balls of herring and whiting, which would bring these ocean giants to our shores to feed. Like the decline of large mammals on land, whales were hunted to near local extinction for their meat and oil. Alongside the decline of these very visible giants, all marine ecosystems are suffering. The UK has lost around 92% of its seagrass meadows, 95% of its native oyster reefs and nearly all its kelp in regions like Sussex where it once was abundant” (1)

In February 2023 three areas of water of the coast of England were given the status of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMA) where all activities such as fishing, mining and laying cables that might damage the sea bed, are banned. The aim is to protect marine biodiversity by allowing seaweeds such as kelp and sea creatures to recolonise the sites. That said, these areas cover only 0.5% of English seas.

There are other projects where a proactive approach has been taken by actively replanting new kelp meadows – such as the Sussex Kelp Recovery Project – or in the Humber Estuary by creating oyster reefs to serve as nurseries for the reintroduction of native oysters (2)

https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/why-rewild/what-is-rewilding/examples/introduction-marine-rewilding

(2) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/02/oyster-restoration-project-rebuild-uk-reefs-overfishing-seabed-trawling?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 191

14th October 2024

As important as restoring the biodiversity of our land, is restoring the biodiversity of our coasts. In particular this can include restoring wetland areas which can receive the varying inflow of water, whether tidal or flooding from rivers. These are liminal areas which can support a diversity of plants, birds, animals and sea creatures – many of which are only to be found in these areas of water flow and retreat.

Salt marshes are wetlands that are regularly inundated by sea water, of which WWT Stewart Marshes in Somerset is an example. Steart Marshes are part of an ongoing rewilding project that aims “to recreate natural wetland features that would protect the area against flooding, restore biodiversity, provide a place for people to enjoy nature and mitigate for climate change. The area has already attracted otters, egrets, owls and spoonbills, as well as providing grazing for locally produced saltmarsh lamb and beef.” (1)

In the Thames Estuary another rewilding project has been evolving. “RSPB Wallasea Island is a stunning landscape of marshland, lagoons, ditches and sea. The landscape has been restored through a managed realignment project. This ambitious project used more than three million tonnes of earth from the tunnels and shafts created by the Crossrail project in London. The material has allowed the project to create a new 115 ha intertidal area of saltmarsh, mudflats and islands. This has created an important habitat for a wide range of species – from plants, to birds and invertebrates. The whole area now supports an abundance of species rich habitat. Grazing animals on site provide an income stream to the farmer. The project offers guided walks and nature trails, and this increase in visitors has benefitted local shops. (2)